Abstract

The small business of fixed retail, at sight; itinerant or floating, reaches the open air, along the roads, at intersections and in various places in the city of Goma.
It should be emphasized that in the DRC, the guarantor state of the nation, the welfare of the population has resigned from its responsibilities, leaving undefinable poverty throughout the country, while development as a process of self- improvement of the integral well-being of man requires the deformation of the content of this well-being in the form of state objectives.
Faced with this blatant resignation of the State from its responsibilities and the ever-increasing misery, the population has been led to develop several survival strategies for the fight against poverty. One of the most remarkable of these days and without question is the practice of so-called informal activities.
We wanted to investigate the causes of proliferation and the solutions of adequate formalization of street markets in the DRC in general and in the city of Goma, analyzing the motives which are pushing the merchants to work in the street markets on the one hand and their consequences on the socio-economic life of the users and the country.
Our investigations show that mobility is due to proximity to customers, avoidance of taxes, low capital levels and the absence of organized markets in the surrounding area. The rapid turnover of goods, the permanence of the customers, the tax evasion and finally the proximity with the suppliers and the customers are all advantages that they find there.
For commercial investment, commercial operators find that street economic activities are very beneficial because they contribute to creating employment, reducing unemployment, ensuring the survival of their households, and even absorb people unable to work in the formal. However, as far as the environmental consequences are concerned, waste is deposited in disorder in the useful and gutted environments and in sufficient quantities.